Digitaltoybox is a blog on things I find interesting. This may cover anything from business strategy, financial markets, to interesting projects, innovation, scuba diving, photography and anything else in between

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Monday, 30 December 2013

Couple of months ago I went to a popular South African scuba diving resort.

While diving, I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. So I turned my head and looked straight into a wall of these guys:

Not thinking about it twice, I turned my camera sideways, fired off a shoot, and off I went on my mission without as much as looking back.

Pity I didn't stop to admire (and photograph) the scenery properly. Living inland I don't get to go diving in the sea that often, and it can be months between dives. Which is quite a long time if you wish to practice underwater photography.

Lesson - always take the time, and make the effort to stop and smell the roses (or the fish for that matter).
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Mega projects are typically huge and complex projects, by virtue of size (in the US a mega project is above $ 1 billion, but in other areas of a world, complex projects with smaller budgets may also be considered mega).

As a Management Consultant, I have been fortunate to be involved in a couple of very large capital projects (programmes) - mega projects by local standards. I hope I will soon again be involved in something exciting of this nature

Because they are so enormous, they are complex, and affect the lives of many, and impacts on much. That's why I like working on them - really flexes your brain a bit. Specifically if you sit somewhere from where you have a bird's eye view. There is a lot to consider and keep in mind because there are so many touch points.

I have decided to do a bit of research on capital and mega-projects in Africa. Hope to post updates from time as I discover new projects.

This time of year people tend to wonder about the year that flew past...

Some wonder where it went and how they missed it. Some fondly remember the good times, and others are stuck in the past. After Christmas many may wonder where all this extra weight came from, whilst others are celebrate that which they had shed.

As for me, it was an interesting year. Many things have gone right. Some did not pan out as planned. Learned a lot. Made major changes, this blog being one of them (call it an early new year's resolution).

In the end it all boils down to perspective. That what is perfectly normal for the scorpion, might be very poisonous for the frog. One's opinion is likely to differ somewhat, depending on where you stand in the story (either on the sideline, or being the frog, or scorpion) . It then follows that it could be very beneficial to get some perspective on a situation first before making up your mind. Sometimes it feels like you are taking a step forward, but meanwhile it was 2 steps back.

Perspective on the year is past good, up to a point. Some (like me) tend to over-analyse. That much I figured this year - downside of trying to be a perfectionist I guess. But much more important to look forward I think. To take that step and not just talk about it.

In this blog I hope to share things that I find interesting - this may be large projects, new business ideas, interesting technologies, my opinion on the world which could be anything from financial markets, business or whatever, just about anything else in between. Sometimes it might be a humorous perspective, and sometimes not.

I came across an interesting quote earlier the year - I can't remember where, or who said it. It goes like this